Sasha was to dress as a foreigner--say an Englishman--and taking me for a companion, he would boldly take the night train to Helsingfors in Finland. Nastasia and the other man had each a different idea for themselves. I was not keen to start upon this expedition. But they were my friends. Furthermore, Nastasia had once seen me through an exceedingly ticklish experience, and this was the first time she had asked anything of me. When I hesitated she pleaded so earnestly that I finally consented to the plan. There was no time to lose. Sasha donned one of my overcoats, an obviously English hat, threw a steamer-rug over one arm, picked up a top hat-box, and we were off. The heavy end of the trip fell to me. Sasha was to know no Russian whatsoever. I, with my scant traveler’s vocabulary, was to do all of the interpreting that might be necessary. Sasha, unfortunately, knew not a word of English. Our conversation had, therefore, to be in German. The danger was increased considerably by the fact that Sasha had no passport at all. Masquerading as an English traveler there was small use of his having anything but an English passport--which, of course, was not procurable on the moment. I held my usual American passport. Ten-thirty had long been the hour of departure of the Helsingfors train. It was twenty-six minutes past the hour when Sasha and I dismissed our carriage and walked slowly and with a degree of nonchalance into the station. Gendarmes stood in rows between the ticket office and the platform. Sasha was magnificently steeled for the ordeal. He knew we would be looked over by perhaps a score of eyes, and a single suspicious movement might lead to discovery. He stopped near the middle of the station and lighted a cigarette while I stepped to the wicket to purchase the tickets. “Two first-class tickets to Helsingfors by the ten-thirty train.” “It is gone, sir.” “What! Gone! But it is not yet ten-thirty!” “The schedule was changed to-day, sir. The last train left at ten-ten.” My heart sank clear to my boots, for I knew what a shock it would be to Sasha, who had risen so well to the rôle he had assumed, so I inquired if there was a train to any point in Finland that night. There was none. There would not be another until the next morning.